A FORMER Plaid Cymru minister has urged “Yes” campaigners in the forthcoming referendum on more powers for the National Assembly to steer clear of constitutional arguments as much as possible.

Rhodri Glyn Thomas said they had a much better chance of attracting support if they concentrated on saying what they hoped to achieve for Wales.

Mr Thomas, the AM for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, said: “It’s easy for politicians and others in the Cardiff Bay village to get excited about moving from Part 3 to Part 4 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 – but that means nothing whatsoever to ordinary voters.

“What those campaigning for a ‘Yes’ vote need to do very clearly is set out how things could improve if the Assembly had primary lawmaking powers – and exactly what they plan to do. So far as the last three years is concerned, we need to point out what could have been achieved if we could do what we wanted instead of having to use the convoluted system of asking Westminster for permission.”

Mr Thomas said the most obvious example of what could have been achieved was in the area of affordable housing.

He said: “We could have done something about all the empty houses there are across Wales by giving housing associations the right to borrow money. Instead it took three years to get the power to make laws in that area transferred to the Assembly.

“Another area is playing fields, where my Plaid colleague Dai Lloyd has been trying to get the power transferred to block the sale of them.”

Professor Brian Morgan of the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff said: “My bugbear is the economy of Wales. I’m a supporter of the Assembly, although I’m disappointed that it hasn’t been able to do enough to improve the economy over the decade since it was set up.

“In the coming years the Assembly Government needs to focus on delivery, with everything else taking a back seat. One thing I’m very concerned about is that moving towards primary lawmaking powers should not be used as a justification for employing lots more civil servants.

“It’s my intention in the time between now and the referendum to seek assurances that there won’t be an increase in the size of the civil service. Until I get answers I’m satisfied with, I shall be sitting on the fence.”

A spokeswoman for the Assembly Commission, which runs the legislative side of the body, said: “A formal assessment of whether a ‘Yes’ vote in the referendum would impact on staff numbers at the National Assembly for Wales has been carried out by senior Assembly staff. The conclusion of this assessment, which was submitted to the All Wales Convention, was that there would be no extra capacity needed within the Assembly to deal with the consequences of a ‘Yes’ vote in the referendum.

“This evidence concluded that the likely impact on the National Assembly for Wales of a ‘Yes’ vote would be, broadly speaking, financially neutral. In the event of a ‘Yes’ vote, the resources underpinning the current Legislative Competence Order system could either be saved or deployed to do different things.”